Saturday, August 29, 2015

Pope Francis has been permitting the Traditional Latin Mass so at the the Superiors meeting next month, we can expect Fr.Sabino Ardito SDB, the new Commissar of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, to lift the three year ban.

However the issue is still ecclesiology and Vatican Council II, the same issue, as with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and the sedevacantists.

In all their discussions and hopes to reach an understanding I think these Three Simple Points were not discussed.They are central to reaching a consensus on Catholic doctrine.

How they are answered determines ecclesiology, old and new, with or without the hermenutic of continuity.

The Three Simple Points identify the doctrinal error which came into the Catholic Church un-noticed.They help avoid the mistake and confusion, if the questions are answered rationally.Three Simple Points

The three questions are:-

1) Do we personally know the dead now saved in invincible ignorance, a good conscience (LG 16) etc,can we see them, are they physically visible to us in 2015 ?

2) Could Catholics in the past see persons in Heaven, saved with the baptism of desire or martyrdom, without the baptism of water? Would this be possible in Baltimore in 1808 or Boston, USA in 1949?

3) Since we do not know any of these cases, in real life, they are not visible for us, there are no known exceptions to the literal interpretation of the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus, or Ad Gentes 7 which states 'all' need 'faith and baptism' for salvation ?

These questions may seem un-related to theology, and they are, however they refer to the reasoning , upon which the New Theology and New Ecclesiology is built. They point out to theology being rational or irrational.

If the Lay Association could get Fr.Sabino Ardito's attention and ask him to answer these questions, which are not being answered by the Secretary General of the Franciscans of the Immaculate over the last three years, then we are one step closer to a doctrinal clarification and reconciliation; one step closer to unity.

May be they could get his attention through some of their media contacts, or place announcements in the media or contact him directly.

It was a thunderclap, for those who have followed messages from the apparition in Bosnia-Hercegovina of Medjugorje for the past three decades.

Since 1981, those missives largely have been comprised of monthly spiritual encouragement: general exhortations toward faith, prayer, and love. Advice. Occasionally -- as during the early 1990s, when Bosnia was at war -- they carried a tone of unusual gravity. They have periodically alluded to the influence of Satan in the world. In the very first couple of years, very sobering language was used:

"I have come to call the world to conversion for the last time" (May 2, 1982).

"The peace of the world is in danger" (1981).

"This unfaithful world walking in darkness" (June 5, 1986).

"You must warn the bishop very soon, and the Pope, with respect to the urgent and the great importance of the message for all of mankind" (December 26, 1983).

"You cannot imagine what is going to happen nor what the Eternal Father will send to earth" (June 24, 1983).

"A great struggle is about to unfold, a struggle between my Son and Satan. Human souls are at stake." (August 2, 1981).

"It is the hour of the power of darkness."

"The present hour is the hour of Satan" (unspecified early year). "The hour has come when the demon is authorized to act with all his force and power."

"My children, I would like this time to be the time of decision" (August 19, 1988).

Those were the early years (we'll say "alleged," pending Church review, to which we will be obedient).

It was an hour of decision, those messages said. So did many other reputed and in some cases Church-sanctioned apparitions elsewhere (see: The Final Hour).

But the latest message (August 25, 2015) seemed to take matters to a more intense level. Said the Queen of Peace, as deciphered at this place: "The world is in a moment of trial, because it forgot and abandoned God."

"A moment of trial."

"Forgot and abandoned God!"

It seemed -- from these latest words, as opposed to those earlier -- that the choices before mankind may be over and now the world was being "tried."

That sounded more like an announcement of the result of bad decisions as opposed to a test of choice -- although still, an "hour" given for mankind to choose between the world, the devil, and Almighty God.

We are, Mary was saying ("Gospa," or Our lady, as she is called by those who believe there), in a time of trial and perhaps one might infer incipient tribulation that will rapidly grow more so.

A trial can be a "test" that God sends to separate the wheat from the chaff -- and a test can entail confusion, disorientation, and suffering, all of which are certainly present in the world, and in a way that just recently has become more intense and even sudden.

The dictionary tells us that a trial means a number of things, among them "a formal meeting in a court in which evidence about crimes, disagreements, is presented to a judge and often a jury so that decisions can be made according to the law; a test of the quality, value, or usefulness of something; a test of someone's ability to do something that is used to see if he or she should join a team, perform in a play, etcetera," according to Merriam-Webster, while secondary definitions include:

"A test of faith, patience, or stamina through subjection to suffering or temptation; broadly: a source of vexation or annoyance."

Trials and tribulations can mean troubles which cause suffering. We are "put to the test" (Luke 4:12). For the faithful, a test is something in which to rejoice -- with the fruit being more endurance and patience, more Godliness, and closeness with Jesus, when the test is passed (and past; 1 Peter 1: 6-7). It can involve disease and injuries, financial hardship, worries and fears; and it is in our personal lives, not just in news events.

The vexation -- in the world -- is all to blatant. It appears to be a separation process -- wheat and chaff, sheep and goats.

One is tested by "fire." Gold should be the result.

Meanwhile the word "moment" usually means a very short time but can also mean this present time. The latest message went beyond the general tone of an "hour," in short, to one using a much smaller time-frame.

They weren't all monthly messages, in those earlier years, occurring frequently to the six youngsters and several locutionists -- who somehow relayed profound verbiage despite a paucity of education and virtually no knowledge of historic apparitions (for the nation at the time was under Communism, the seers even taken into custody at one point, as was the local pastor).

It is a fascinating circumstance. They are fascinating words.

We will obey whatever the Church discerns.

For now, one can exercise individual devotion there. And interesting it is, the way the words capture the drama of the human moment -- and the precariousness of it (for the messages there also involve warnings and chastisements for the world).

Have we passed a point of no return? Has an outcome been decided -- and a period of unusual "trying" set in motion? Or does a tribunal still evaluate the world?

Perhaps, as pointed out by blogger Bernard Gallagher of England, it hearkens to striking and perhaps startlingly similar verbiage in Isaiah (17: 9-11), whereby the Lord condemned various forms of idolatry and fertility cults. To wit (for your own discernment):

"...you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to keep remembrance the Rock of your strength. For you are planting plants for Adonis, you put in sprigs of foreign gods, you make them flower the same day as you plant them, as soon as it is light your seedlings blossom, but all that you pick will vanish on the day of trouble, and the evil will be incurable."

[Footnote: As Gallagher further points out, "Gardens of Adonis are considered 'out of season' or 'short-lived.' Wiki states that 'by this, Adonis the unfruitful seducer of goddesses was the antitheses of useful agriculture and the union of marriage."].

Every month, since 1985, the parish has made available statistics about the number of holy communions distributed to pilgrims and Medjugorje residents.

This is the only available and consistent guide to the number of pilgrims visiting Medjugorje.

So, for the record, here are stats published before and since Pope Francis made his comments in June:

HOLY COMMUNIONS DISTRUBUTED AT MEDJUGORJE

2015

2014

2013

JUNE

213,000

211,000

211,900

JULY

195,500

188,700

143,400

This reveals the number of communions distributed for the months of June and July in 2015 is up on the two previous years, a positive indication that pilgrims numbers are also up.

As for any dip for the months of July, this is not unusual. The weather is extremely hot during this month and less pilgrims go there because of this. What also has to be taken into account is that the June figures are boosted by the anniversary celebrations that take place on the 25th of that month.

Poveledo quotes only one source for her claim about the Pope’s statement reducing the number of pilgrims travelling to Medjugorje. Had she checked with the parish ofice, she may have wanted to present a different story, but then it should be asked if the visit of Pope Francis to the U.S. in September was the motive for producing the negative story on pilgrim numbers rather than Medjugorje itself.

The Pope is news. So is Medjugorje. Combine the two and it’s an easy story to sell, factual or not.

The headline to the NYT article reads: “Church Inquiry May Pit Pope Against a Popular Bosnian Shrine”.

The truth is it is not the Church that attempts to pit the Pope against Medjugorje but those responsible for misleading headlines and reports short on facts wanting readers to believe that Medjugorje, a place of prayer and reconciliation, is out of step with the Church and even Pope Francis.